Preface this to Bokscar, nothing personal, simply standing up for the opposition - to remain silent is to be counted with the majority.
As one of the more vocal I'll grab the banner and run with itadding my own humble opinion. Said it before and I'll say it again, today's "reproductions" are tomorrow's "fakes". If you don't understand/believe that then you are either a new collector or you have not been paying attention. This is a constant and increasing problem, and creating more is simply polluting the gene pool. Regardless of innocent intentions today, time moves on and not a week goes by without someone on this forum asking if they are wasting their hard-earned money on something that is not as it seems. Subtle changes intended to be obvious today in the future may be questioned as variations. Money changes hands, a collector is screwed and the history is muddied. Look no further than the title of this category - spotting fake/reproduction items. Why is this category necessary? Why add to it? We have all seen it happen, most of us have had it happen to us. Innocent intent or not, the result is the same. My two cents, again.
Jeff, I understand where you are coming from but like it or not people are always going to reproduce items, either deliberately to sell on as fakes or as a 'replica' of an original. As prices increase so the scarcer items get further from reach for the average collector, many collectors have limited funds and yet the desire to own the scarcer rounds is still there, hence the replica 'fill in' is very appealing. I understand that and have no problem with this personal choice.
I do however strongly believe that the responsibility lies with the people producing the items to make every attempt that any such items are never going to be passed off as real in the future. Stamping an item REPLICA with a date of production is a great idea. Of course its also the responsibility of the collector to voice opinion of what is and what is not acceptable; this we do not for our own gain, as we hopefully have built up knowledge, its for the future generations we fear.
I read a thread on another forum about the amount of reproduction items on display at a recent museum and was this acceptable? Interesting thread and question raised. I'm of the opinion that when visiting a museum I want to see items that 'were there' original and nothing else. There are of course exceptions to the rule, one off items to complete a uniform etc, but these should be clearly labelled as such and photos of originals provided where possible..............but this is another debate.
Bockscar has made very clear his battle with his concience about producing these and the lengths he is going to to protect future generations and for that I applaud him, he doesnt have to do this, no one does and not everyone will.
What I really would like to know, given a choice of two items, both identical Replicas, one stamped Replica, the other not; would people choose the ones with or without 'REPLICA' stamped on them? If they did choose to buy the one without the stamp my question would be; Why? If you know you are buying a replica, then thats what it is, why the issue?
Faking items of course is another area, and, a total different area. This is nothing short of Fraud, done purely for self gain. This again is an area that will always be with us as collectors. Where money is involved there will always be fakes, be it fashion clothing, paintings or even money itself. Everyone gets stung, you only ever learn by being hurt. However knowledge can be defence against fakes.
What I also worry about is creating 'new rounds' that never existed, an unusual dummy round never seen before. Another turns up miles apart and validates the first. A third gets put into a museum and concretes opinion - a new round (or whatever else is created).
In the end replica items will always be around and I fear in greater numbers, the guidelines which collectors lay down as 'Acceptable' is perhaps the way to go ?
Kev